Jared Sullinger called Stevens' in-depth understanding of Hayward's game "hilarious." Phil Pressey added, "He talked about every single player, but then as soon as he brought up Hayward, he gave a couple more details about him."

To the media, Stevens recalled recruiting Hayward back when hardly any other colleges were, back when he was a "gangly" 6-foot-7 tennis player. The coach, when he was still at Butler on the recruiting path, attended one of Hayward's high school tennis matches. That day, he lost for the only time that regular season. And he did so while wearing Purdue shorts and a Purdue hat, representing one of Butler's in-state competitors.

"Double awkward," Hayward smiled Wednesday before lighting up Stevens' Celtics with 28 points, nine rebounds and five assists in a losing cause. “It was definitely not a good experience for him to be there when I lost.”

But once Hayward decided to join Stevens at Butler, the pairing worked. It worked well enough to lead the Bulldogs to the first of their two consecutive national championship appearances. After Butler lost to Duke by a single point in the 2010 national title game, the 6-foot-7 tennis player became an NBA lottery pick. Stevens went on to join him at basketball's highest level this summer, accepting a six-year, $22-million contract from the Celtics in July.

As Stevens marveled at his former pupil's growth Wednesday before Boston prevailed 97-87, he was asked, of course, about the one shot for which Hayward might be best-known. The aforementioned Duke loss ended with Hayward missing a half-court heave, which hit both the backboard and rim before bouncing out. Stevens said he "hardly ever" thinks about that miss, preferring to remember all the big plays Hayward made while helping Butler reach new heights of national relevance.

"I think obviously I felt bad for him because the immortalized shot of his banks off the rim – the one that they show every single March," said Stevens. "The only reason I think about it is because I see it when I turn on the TV, but my memories of him as a player were his growth, how far he came in a short amount of time, and how many big plays he took to take us to really uncharted waters."

In Stevens' mind, Hayward was the best player in college basketball that season. But he had not yet fully dedicated himself to basketball before college; Stevens said Hayward essentially focused on tennis all spring, not picking up a basketball until the season was over.

"We used to use it as a slide in recruiting that he came to Butler and he bench-pressed 185 three times, and 15 months later it was 14," said Stevens. "He was just one of those guys that wasn't going to make baby steps, he was going to make leaps and bounds. And he continues to make them. You watch the film and in a lot of ways I'm a proud coach, because you're watching him and you really enjoy watching him. Then you get sick to your stomach because you have to play against him."

Before the game, Hayward did not know how he would feel to meet Stevens.

"When I go out there and see him in that green and see him on the opposing side," he said, "that's when it will hit me. Last time I played for him was the national championship game, so it will be a pretty cool feeling I think."

Despite all of Stevens' pointers, Hayward gave Boston fits. He scored 10 points in the opening quarter, then brought the Jazz racing back from a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit with eight points, five rebounds and three assists in the final frame. After the small forward outscored the Celtics over the first six minutes of the fourth, Stevens quipped, “I wish he would have backed off a little at the end.” But 89-83 was the closest Utah got as the Celtics held on for their first win of the season.

“I’m proud of him,” said Stevens. “Again, I can’t tell you what that feels like, because I was there when he was a puppy, when he was a junior in high school and he was a good tennis player and nobody was recruiting him. And it was like, ‘You think we should offer that guy a scholarship?' Nobody’s looking at him. Nobody’s even in the building. It was probably a good decision, in retrospect. He’s awfully good.”

Yes, he’s awfully good. Partially because of the Stevens connection, I imagine, rumors have started that Hayward could potentially join his former coach in green. That’s possible – after he and the Jazz did not reach a contract extension by the Oct. 31 deadline, he is poised to become a restricted free agent following the season. But Utah will have the option to match any contract offer and the Celtics – even with Kris Humphries' and Keith Bogans’ deals coming off the books – would probably need to shave more salary to become major free-agent players. A sign-and-trade could possibly work, but that could be getting into far-fetched hypotheticals.

At least for Wednesday night – Stevens’ first time talking to Hayward since the season started – the past seemed like a better topic than the future.

Calling Stevens "extremely high" on the list of reasons why he chose Butler, Hayward said,“He was just a great guy, number one. I love what he stood for as a person and he treated everybody that he recruited as family. I love that about him; it was a family atmosphere first and foremost. Obviously the basketball was pretty great as well. He was a good coach and I like what he stood for.”

“He’s just always calm,” Hayward said, saying he felt the coach could achieve such habitual tranquility because of his preparation level. But when prompted on whether Stevens ever got mad, Hayward continued, “Yeah, you’d have to be at practice to find that out. He kicked us out of practice a couple times when we weren’t doing things the right way. He’s extremely detail-oriented, so when you’re not focusing on those details he gets pretty upset about that.”

When Stevens took the Celtics gig, Hayward said he was “shocked.” Even when Stevens occasionally asked him about the NBA game, the small forward never considered it a hint that his former coach would take the step to the next level. Stevens always told Butler players he would never leave for another college job, and he stayed true to his word. But Hayward did not anticipate him going to the pros, either – at least not so soon.

“I went out to eat with him about a month earlier and we were talking about Butler and how they’re season was going to be, who was going to score for them, who was going to be there big guy inside and different things like that,” said Hayward. “Then to find out that he was going to be in the NBA, it was kind of a cool feeling and I was looking forward to playing for the Celtics.”

The two spoke at summer league, but Hayward didn’t offer his former coach any ideas on how to adjust to the NBA.

“He knows what he’s doing," said Hayward. "We just laughed about a couple things. I definitely didn’t give him any advice. We’re going to play him, so I didn’t want to tell him too much.”

Coach 1, Player 0. But next time, Stevens' scouting report might have to be even more detailed.